Despite the abundance of various hair loss restoration treatments available today, the foolproof solution is to go for hair transplant therapy, and the leading choices, designed to treat baldness in men, are FUE (follicular unit extraction) and FUT (follicular unit transplantation).
Although both procedures are meant to deliver similar results, they rely on different surgical approaches to treating hair loss.
The principal difference between FUE and FUT is that in the former, the surgeon extracts individual follicles from areas where there is more hair, whereas in the latter the follicular units are taken from the back of the scalp in strips.
Whichever option you choose, the rate of success is almost identical. In both procedures, hair loss is remedied by using healthy hair grafts, which are distributed proportionally to grow in areas affected by hair thinning. However, the means of harvesting the grafts are gravely dissimilar.
FUT
In this procedure, linear strips of follicular units are taken from areas with lots of hair or the back of the scalp. Usually, these units also contain nerves and tiny muscles. The strips are then placed in circular incisions in the areas most affected by hair loss.
Depending on the pattern of baldness, the surgery may involve taking a long-term supply of donor strips. In comparison to FUE, FUT provides a richer donor hair yield, which minimises the need for repeat surgery to encourage natural hair growth.
Technically, the hair strip is observed under high-power microscopes by the surgical team to ensure the even distribution and proper concentration of graft hairs. Once the grafts are harvested, they are put into a chilled tissue storage unit until they are ready to be transplanted. Next, the donor site is stitched into the head. Within a period of 10-14 days, the stitches are lifted and the donor site is healed, forming a hard, linear scar.
FUE
During this procedure, the harvesting of graft hair is done using a tiny, motorised surgical machine through excision on a shaven area of the scalp. The incisions leave a series of negligible dot scars and the harvesting involves the collection of single hair follicles. However, the process often needs to be repeated to achieve an adequate supply of donor hair to correct baldness in the affected area.